Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor, Athol Trollip, said that the he would be laying criminal charges of sabotage and intimidation following water issues in parts of the Metro this past weekend.
Trollip and several councillors briefed the media on Tuesday on developments regarding a new overtime policy as well as service delivery issues which led to a shut-down of water services in township areas.
He said the municipality discovered that water valves were shut down in Govan Mbeki Avenue which affected water flow in certain areas of the Metro, including Kwazakhele and New Brighton.
Trollip said the water issues were compounded by industrial action by municipal workers.
Trollip told the briefing that the Municipality suspected there was also political interference as water tanker driver were prepared to deliver water to township areas however they were intimidated forcing them to pull out of the agreement with the municipality.
"What I find really disconcerting is the political meddling aspect of it. When you have an emergency in a city it requires all hands on deck. At one stage I even said to one of the councillors- do you really want water or not. My impression was that they didn't want the water to come, they wanted people to be without water long enough so they can mobilise around the anger of people," he said.
In an earlier statement explaining the new overtime policy, Trollip said that it allowed for overtime for artisans who earn above the basic condition of employment threshold (approximately R206 000), remunerated at the normal rate of pay. This means a regular business hour is paid at the same rate as overtime."
He said employees under the threshold still received full statutory overtime benefits.
"Some staff are asking to be paid more than the normal rate of pay for any overtime worked. The Metro simply can't afford that and the Auditor General has already identified this is an issue" the post read," Trollip said.
